Wednesday, 7 September 2011

Baked beans - that recipe seems very familiar

In our house we love a fry up but it has been a long time since I have summoned my energy in the morning. When I found out that Fathers Day was the same day we were going to have lunch with my family, I promised E that I would make him a fry up before we left. I have made bakedbeans a few times before but have bookmarked afew recipes to try. Fathers Day brunch was the ideal opportunity.

The recipe for Smoky Baked Beans was one from Veganomicon that I had seen on both Where's the Beef and Veganise This. Cindy had used tinned beans and Mel had used dried. I had good intentions to follow Mel's lead but Saturday was so busy with Fran and John's party and making cherry ripe cake pops that I ended up using tinned beans. As it was, I found myself making these in the evening around dipping cake pops in chocolate and watching the excellent new hospital drama, Monroe.

I was rushing around to get the beans cooking before I sat down to dinner in front of Munroe and misread the time that the beans needed to simmer on the stovetop. Hence my beans were a little more stodgy than Cindy and Mel's looked. I was grateful for their advice regarding the sweetener. Cindy advised that the recipe was very sweet, as American recipes are wont to be. Mel halved the golden syrup. I did too but I still had to add extra salt and found it too sweet. It may also be that I think the original recipe may have used molasses which is quite bitter as well as sweet.

Our brunch was very very good. E had requested a fried egg. This is a bit outside my area of expertise but I did my best. The potato scones and veggie sausages (just from a packet) were nicely done. We ate later that I had intended but it was just as well. We ate lunch at 2.30 because other family members were juggling in-law commitments. Though the beans were quite sweet, I still found them delicious on toast for dinner on Sunday night and with bangers and mash on Monday night.

I am sending this post to Steph of Vegan about Town for That Recipe Seems Very Familiar..., an event that she is holding to celebrate the 2 year anniversary of Planet VegMel. For those who are not familiar with it, Planet VegMel is an aggregator blog. It collects posts from Melbourne vegan blogs (and vegan-friendly blogs like my own). This is an amazingly welcoming group of bloggers who make great food. It is a fantastic place to see what others are eating - have met many great bloggers both virtually and at potlucks. There is even an upcoming potluck to celebrate the anniversary.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat the olive oil in a oven proof casserole dish, add the onions and fry for about 10 minutes or until slightly browned. Add the garlic and stir through for a minute. Mix in the tomatoes, golden syrup, mustard powder, salt, allspice, and smoked paprika - only add a little golden syrup and salt and taste to check if you need more. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes are softening (oops I did 30 minutes and added the beans at this point).

Add beans to the tomato mixture. Cook in the oven for an hour, stirring once about half way through (I didn't stir). Remove bay leaf and serve warm.

On the Stereo:With my little ukelele in my hand: oh how she could play the ukelele (disc 2): Cliff Ukelele Ike Edwards

I agree that they can be a bit sweet for some people's tastes. Baked beans have never really been my thing but the man loves them. Well he did enjoy them until I made them one too many times and now he is sick of baked beans which is fine by me! At time I have used tomato passata rather than tinned tomatoes which gives the beans a bit more sauce.

I've never made baked beans - mostly because I don't like the tinned ones very much! - but this has made me realise that if I did, I could modify the sauce to taste. I don't know why I didn't think of that before :P

Those beans sound great--and I've even got that cookbook! I have to agree that American recipes are way too sweet. Now that I hardly use any sweetener, when I see recipes and adapt them, I'm always amazed at how much sugar (or other sweetener) is included.

I love homemade beans - I have never made them myself but I often order them at cafes. In Sydney at a cafe in The Rocks visitors centre, I had spicy smoky baked beans - so good. I just bought a tin of cannelini beans only because they were on sale, so half of this recipe sounds like a fab way to use them.

Thanks Mel - I like the idea of using passata - it seems to give a thicker sauce than tinned tomatoes - I love tinned baked beans but find them on the sweet side and esp find the reduced salt ones too sweet. Yes try the potato scones - very easy and yummy

Thanks Kari - these were closer to tinned ones than other baked beans recipes I have tried - one I tried was quite different with rum, molasses and yoghurt but I have never blogged it - you might need a bit of trial and error to find what works - I am still to find my perfect recipe - though might be able to tweak this one

Thanks ricki - interesting to hear how your palate has changed with a different diet. I am still swithering over whether I get veganomicon

Thanks Cindy - who needs eggs with these dishes - it is quite enough protein for me in the morning! And it was great and not too much effort once I made the beans the night before

Thanks Hannah - it has crossed my mind that Sylvia might take over some time - she did make her dad a very fetching purple sparkly cardboard crown for fathers day so she is doing her best!

Thanks Chele - it is worth a try - so much more satisfying than the tinned ones

Thanks Cakelaw - I order them at cafes where I can too - love to see how different people make them - hope you get to try them

Thanks Lorraine - home made baked beans are ideal for me because they have to be made the night before and are so great to wake to - and who has much energy in the morning

Thanks Joanne - try them - they are great for any meal - I am very partial to a baked bean sandwich and had them with burgers this week - excellent!

That looks like a delicious meal! I still need to try those potato scones. Looking back at my maple baked beans post I see there's quite a lot of sugar in there! I imagine I probably found them a bit sweet.

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.